


Snake Friends

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: 1-million-words, Double Drabble, Drabble, Drabble Sequence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-14 06:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13584741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: Harry meets a series of snakes





	1. Gardens

**Author's Note:**

> For the 1MW challenge to write "Multi chapter piece with only exact drabbles/double drabbles"

At five, Harry was assigned to work in the garden. It was the end of the summer, and there was much to do to prepare for the fall, Harry discovered. Daily he raked, mowed, planted, weeded, and any other task that his Aunt and Uncle could think of.

Then autumn arrived, and though he went to school during the week, Harry's weekends were still devoted to the garden.

Late fall found him engaged in winterizing, and even the frigid winter months were busy, maintaining the sodden lawn and preparing for the return of spring.

Gardens, Harry discovered, were year-long projects.


	2. Vira

That March, Harry discovered a small snake under one of the hedges. "What's this?" he muttered, surprised.

When he had mentioned to his primary teacher that he gardened, she assured him that most of the snakes found in England did not come to places with lots of people.

"Vira. Who are you?" The snake replied suspiciously. Harry didn't think that snakes could talk, as his primary teacher had not mentioned that, but he couldn't think of who else would have heard him, and the voice sounded distinctly snake-like.

"I'm Harry," he replied. It was exciting to use his name; he had only learned it this past fall when he went to school. Introducing himself was still a bit of a novelty. "I didn't think snakes lived around here," Harry confessed.

"I left the small box, and then the big box," Vira explained. "But now I am cold."

Harry decided she must mean a tank and a house; she was probably an escaped pet. "You're cold? I can take you into the shed."

Vira agreed, and Harry carefully transferred her to the gardening shed, where she curled up in the potting soil.

Harry thought he might have finally made a friend.


	3. Happy

According to his library book, Vira was a Chequered Garter Snake, Harry discovered. She wasn't a local kind of snake; she must've come from a pet shop.

But as no one put up missing flyers, Harry justified hiding her existence. He didn't want to give up his new friend.

Vira took care of herself, and cheerfully chatted with Harry while he worked on the weekends.

For the first time in his memory, Harry was happy.

Then, a week before school ended, Aunt Petunia saw Vira slithering into the shed. By the time Harry found the poison, it was too late.


	4. Raj

Harry's second encounter with a snake was yet again in the garden. Now with a few years of science beneath his too-large belt, Harry was able to identify the snake's zig-zag pattern right away as belonging to an adder; the only native venomous snake.

"Hello," he cheerfully greeted the snake, pausing for a moment in his pruning. "I'm Harry."

"Hello," the adder replied. "I am Raj."

Much wiser now, Harry was able to forewarn Raj about the poison, and about the importance of not being seen by other humans, who didn't like snakes as Harry did.

Raj had also lived in the wild for many seasons, as he told Harry, and was therefor much more savvy than sheltered Vira, even before Harry's warning.

They spent a very enjoyable spring and summer together, until Raj had to return to his hibernation spot. But, as promised, Raj came back one balmy April day, and Harry delighted in another year with his friend.

Unfortunately, the year after, Harry waited and watched in vain, as Raj did not return. Harry never knew if Raj had been killed by a natural predator, or by a human, but at least this time it wasn't his fault.


	5. Boa

Trapped in his cupboard for a week, Harry regretted the fact that Dudley and Piers had been scared by the boa constrictor at the zoo. However, he couldn't bring himself to regret meeting the snake. It was only his third such contact, and Harry didn't even have time to get the boa's name, but he cherished the meeting just the same.

Harry wasn't sure if talking to snakes was something Uncle Vernon would call freakish, but he had kept it a secret all the same. Harry had so few secrets, and even fewer friends. Yes, this day was very special.


	6. Magical Creatures

A few weeks after his arrival at Hogwarts, and after cautious questioning of both Percy the Prefect and Hagrid, Harry found the magical creatures classroom. Inside, there were dozens of magical habitats, but Harry ignored most of them, making a beeline for the corner with the snake terrariums.

There, he soon made the acquaintance of several magical snakes. Hine the spitting snake occupied the first tank, followed by Tka the boomslang, Maz the python, Guuv the horned serpent, and Hie the fenny snake. Two more unique tanks held a fiery snake called an ashwinder, who introduced herself as Jul, and a three-headed runespoor named Ran, Tan, and Kan.

Harry spent many a free moment in the classroom, talking at great length with his new friends; and all of them confirmed a willingness to be friends with him. They were eager to talk about their homelands, their tanks, and the man who fed them. They enjoyed Harry's stories of his own history, and those he read from his textbooks. Those were some of his best moments at Hogwarts so far.

That is, until he followed their careful instructions into the depths of the castle. There, Harry got to meet a _Basilisk._


End file.
